Dish Network Wins a $9 Billion Spectrum Prize

For more than a decade, telecom moguls and hedge fund titans have wrangled with regulators in a bid to wring billions of dollars out of thin air. This week, the government crowned a winner.

The Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday said Dish Network Corp., led by satellite-TV pioneer Charlie Ergen, would be able to use a slice of the airwaves designated for satellite-phone transmissions to instead offer much more lucrative...